'Possum
America's only native marsupial. I should be flattered that we've got one visiting our yard nightly. Pleased, perhaps. But, alas, I'm not. I have to admit they creep me out. It's something between the smell (foul), the hiss (they stare at you and hiss, daring you to do ANYTHING), and the simple fact that they have NO fear of you, your dog, or anything about you. They know they have you. They know you're more scared of them than they are of you. They know they could take you in a bar fight, one 'possum paw tied behind their hairy, smelly back.
Seriously, there are two wild animals that are common & native to San Diego, and this is one of 'em. The other you can smell comin' a mile away. That's right, you guessed it, it's a skunk. The other wild animals are far more elusive and if you get see them it's a treat (coyotes, foxes, mountain lions). In my opinion, sites of this guy (or gal) are NO treat.
posted by at Thursday, April 17, 2008
7 Comments:
I guess the compensation for possum-haters is that you fairly often see them in the role of roadkill....
*Yucky shiver*. Hate them. You were so brave! When I had cat food outside they (and raccoons and rats) visited me too - see my post on 10/26/06 (filed under Creepy - no kidding!). Can I say yuck again?!
Between possums and raccoons we get a lot of attention. We have babies of both, most years, in our yard. We are 5 blocks from downtown Coral Gables, not in the woods. One or the other make a terrible noise when mating. If your windows are open you will be sure to wake up.
They are creepy, and like crocodiles, have been around since the dinosaur days. Playing dead when in danger seems to work! Thanks for posting that. I don't often see them alive.
We used to have a possum that would eat out of the dogs food dishes, yuck!
You know, now you got me thinking that we don't have skunks here. I've not ever smelled one since I've left SD!
plenty of skunks in my neighborhood (ob). i've seen possum and raccoon too. nice photo of the little rascal -- he almost looks cute
;-)
You should see the teeth on those critters. Designed for some serious bone crunching.
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